""Jerusalem is making history! There are no Sephardic girls at home! We have reached our goal!" - Aryeh Deri solemnly announced, at the opening of the school year last week.
Indeed, he made history. The outrageous phenomenon of hundreds of girls staying at home, just because they weren't born with the right last name, did not repeat itself this year in Jerusalem - and that is truly a tremendous achievement.
The ultra-Orthodox media outlets covered the issue extensively. Everyone praised the public representatives who worked to resolve the complex problem, and the school year opened in a festive atmosphere.
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But no one talks about another problem, no less painful.
About the boys who stayed at home.
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This morning, another painful study was published on youth dropout in the Haredi sector. The data indicates a significant increase compared to last year. The phenomenon is expanding year by year, and it seems that it cannot be stopped.
10% Haredi youth in Jerusalem are defined as dropout youth. These are thousands of young people without an educational framework, youth who wander around idle and are exposed to serious and dangerous behaviors, youth who are rejected from yeshivahs, thrown out of homes and end up in the darkest places.
This phenomenon is spreading, and unfortunately we cannot claim "our hands did not shed this blood." Because the voices of our public representatives are almost never heard on this issue.
The great men of our generation have instructed us that we must advocate the method of "educating a boy according to his own path," supporting yeshivas where elites study day and night, and on the other hand, taking care of institutions for boys who are not blessed with the talent that allows them to lean over the stand 16 hours a day, in order to prevent them from dropping out of the educational framework.
The activists always do the first part. The second part, less so, to put it mildly.
The index of Haredi public representatives at the beginning of next year should deal not only with the number of girls who stayed at home, but also with the number of boys who stayed at home or on the street, without an educational framework.
The public expects its representatives not to engage only in intra-sectoral squabbles over control of this or that issue, but to ensure a solution to this complex and difficult problem.
You can call each other 'collaborators,' only the collaboration will be in finding a solution to the most difficult and complex problem in the sector: the dropout problem!
MK Yaakov Asher did wonderful work in Bnei Brak with the youth, MK Aryeh Deri promised to address the issue of dropout, but we have not yet heard of any cooperation on the issue, such as lobbying in the Knesset or an ultra-Orthodox 'youth movement' being established for this purpose.
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But, until our representatives get free to deal with this painful issue, we too can bring about change.
Yes, we can change the situation!
Me, you, and the neighbor upstairs.
Without financial investment and without effort, simply change our perspective. Stop judging people by their appearance and stop 'feeling sorry' for parents who sent their son to study in a yeshiva for struggling youth.
If we understand that not everyone is blessed with the talent that allows them to stand up under pressure, if we understand that there are boys who still need a hug and personal attention and therefore send them to a different type of yeshiva - we will bring about change.
''Educate a boy according to his path' - when a parent chooses to send their son to a yeshiva that suits his path, we should be proud of him, we should encourage the boy and his family, and not turn up our noses and send pitying looks when we meet them on the street or in the public park.
We have it in our hands.
Today's youth are crossing a narrow bridge, many fall off it due to 'lack of fit'. Under the bridge there are 'hospitals' intended to absorb those who drop out, but if we widen the bridge a little and accept the different and the special, the youth will not drop off and in any case there will be no need for the various 'hospitals'.
